India refuses to play day-night Test against Australia later this year

8 May 2018

The Adelaide Test between India and Australia later this year will be an all-day affair after Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) refused to play a pink-ball Test.

The current ICC Playing Conditions dictate that a home side can only host a day-night Test match ‘with the agreement of the Visiting Board’. And India have confirmed that they have no inclination of playing the fixture in Adelaide later this year.

“We can confirm that we have received advice from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that it is not prepared to participate in a proposed Day-Night Test in Adelaide this summer,” a CA spokesperson said as per cricket.com.au.

“Whilst we appreciate some Adelaide fans may be disappointed, we know how popular the Adelaide Test is and look forward to hosting India there in December.

“We are committed to hosting at least one Day-Night Test each home summer as part of our continued focus to grow Test cricket, and we are excited about the Day-Night Test against Sri Lanka at the Gabba in January.”

BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Choudhury wrote to Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland on Monday, saying that the Committee of Administrators, the board’s supervising authority, had decided that India would only be ready to play pink-ball Test next year.

“I am directed to say by the Committee of Administrators that India would begin to play in the format only in about a year’s time,” Choudhury wrote in an e-mail, accessed by PTI according to ESPNCricinfo. “Under the circumstances, I regret to say that the proposed day-night Test cannot be played and all Tests will have to have the conventional structure.”

The World #1 side are one of only two nations not to have appeared in a pink ball Test, with Bangladesh being the other country.

CA were keen on hosting its fifth day-night at the venue against Virat Kohli’s side later this year. However, the suspensions of Steve Smith and David Warner have tipped the scales massively in favour of the visitors securing their first ever Test series win against Australia down under.

Speaking last month to SEN Radio, Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said he hoped that the introduction of the World Test Championship in 2019 will allow home boards to have greater freedom in scheduling fixtures.

“I think personally the home country should have the right to schedule matches as it sees fit and start them at whatever time of day they want,” Sutherland said. “The Adelaide Test match in the day-night format has been a huge success. It’s been a great story in terms of attendances, crowds and atmosphere but also television audiences. It’s also the way of the future.

“India may or may not come around to that idea for this tour but I still believe it’s the way of the future. I think everyone in world cricket knows that. It hasn’t really got to a stage where there’s agreement or regulation around the table at ICC level for the home countries to be able to schedule that.

“We’re hoping there will be some sort of regulation in there (the Test Championship) that will allow home teams to fixture at least one day-night Test match.”

India is set to tour Australia between November 21 and January 19 for four Tests, three T20Is and three ODIs.